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The availability of strong safety LaRon Landry (hamstring) and linebacker Brian Orakpo (ankle) for the Washington Redskins‘ game against the Arizona Cardinals won’t be determined until Sunday, coach Mike Shanahan said. Both players, who are vital cogs in the Redskins‘ defense, were limited in practice all week.

“It’s possible,” Landry said. “I want to get out there, but we’ll see what happens [Saturday]. We’ve got 48 hours. From day to day it’s getting better.”

Landry, however, has not fully participated in a practice this season. He began training camp on the physically unable to perform list because of a sore left Achilles’ tendon.

Orakpo was injured on the first series of the win over New York last Sunday but he missed only two defensive snaps.

“Meds do a body wonders, and then the adrenaline gets going,” Orakpo said. “It’s just like basketball. You see a guy who rolls his ankle and he comes back in the game then all of a sudden when the game is over with, he’s like, ‘Ahhh, it hurts.’ But the adrenaline gets you going that day.”

Arizona defensive end Darnell Dockett, a product of Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Md., has more than 65 tickets to Sunday’s game reserved for family and friends.

“I play in front of friends and family all the time,” Dockett said in a phone conversation this week. “But the biggest thing to me is being able to come home and play against a team that I have not beaten since I have been in the NFL. That’s a big challenge for me.”

The Redskins have beaten Arizona seven straight times dating from 2000. Dockett, a seven-year veteran, has played in three of those games.

Dockett was asked if he rooted for the Redskins growing up. He laughed.

“Yeah, right,” he said. His favorite teams were Dallas and Atlanta.

Torain ready to go

Running back Ryan Torain’s left hand, which he broke during training camp, is healed enough to where it would not keep him from playing, Shanahan said. Torain did not play in Sunday’s win over New York, while Tim Hightower averaged 2.9 yards on 25 carries.

Torain broke his hand in practice on Aug. 3 and had four screws inserted. He played in the last preseason game on Sept. 1.

“It took him a couple weeks to get back in football shape,” Shanahan said. “The hand was quite sore. Right now I don’t think it bothers him at all.”

Torain averaged 4.5 yards per carry last season, so he is an option for Shanahan if Hightower can’t get rolling. Rookie Roy Helu carried once in the opener.

Grossman seeks consistency

The quality of quarterback Rex Grossman’s play during his 2006 Super Bowl season in Chicago sometimes swung wildly from game to game. For example, he sandwiched passer ratings of 101.2 and 137.4 around a 10.2 rating in Games 5 through 7 that year.

So the question is whether the Redskins should be prepared for a similar roller coaster following his strong game against the Giants last week. Mike Shanahan believes he knows what to expect from Grossman each game.

“You try to get him ready because you never know exactly what a defense is going to do. … But how a quarterback gains trust is the way he performs in practice every day,” he said.

Slowik family reunion

Sunday’s game is a reunion of sorts for the Slowik family. Defensive backs coach Bob Slowik and his son, Bobby, a defensive assistant, will be on the Redskins‘ sideline. Bob’s son and Bobby’s brother, Ryan, is a defensive quality control coach for the Cardinals.

“I’ll be honest with you, I tried to talk them all out of [coaching],” Bob said. “This is a tough profession. There’s no security whatsoever. You’ve got to move all the time. You’ve got to be willing to go up and down levels. You might be in the NFL a year and the next year you could be at a I-AA [college] program or below. I said, ‘As long as you’re willing to accept that as part of the job and your career and you’re willing to make the sacrifices that go along with it, go ahead.’”

EXTRA POINTS

• Fullback Darrel Young was fined $15,000 by the NFL for an illegal blindside block against the New York. Giants safeties Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips were fined $20,000 and $10,000, respectively, for hits against Redskins tight end Fred Davis. …

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